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Amazon Video Ads Masterclass (Copy These Ads to Scale)

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I love Amazon video ads. But the funniest thing is, 99% of Amazon video ads on Amazon… suck. I've seen a great video ad double sales—literally double sales—and I've seen that for my own personal brand, The Sticky Wallet. My Amazon video ad campaign has been running for years and years and years, and it makes up most of our sales.

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In this lesson, I’ll show you:
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• Good versus bad examples of Amazon video ads
• Simple Canva templates you can use (you don’t even need any footage)
• The key elements that make a video ad actually convert

Let’s get into it.
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Video Ad Example #1: Grüns Green Gummies

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This first one is actually the best one I’ve found on all of Amazon. I know it’s a winning ad because I saw it as a display ad, meaning it was showing on a competitor’s listing, on the left side of the reviews.

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There’s no audio for these types of video ads, but it’s still the best one—and I’ll tell you why.

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1. Optimized Thumbnail / First 3 Seconds

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Optimized thumbnail basically means optimizing the first 3 seconds of your video ad. It’s making sure that any frame within the first 3 seconds will be a good thumbnail. For video ads, you really got to think about that. 99% of brands are not thinking about this - BIG opportunity to keep in mind.

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• Shows a woman with splatter going all over her face—perfect pattern interrupt.
• Amazon doesn’t let you upload a dedicated thumbnail for video ads, but they automatically pick a frame from the first three seconds.
• PRO TIP: Make sure your first three seconds basically function as your thumbnail so you don’t get blank a blank screen/thumbnail like this:

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2. Huge Text

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• BIG, EASY-TO-READ TEXT.
• This is just putting a bunch of big words into it, which goes to my philosophy of Amazon video ads.
• You just need huge text because most people are playing this without audio, and they're not going to read captions at the bottom.

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3. “Us Versus Them” Focus

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These guys found out that putting a video on AG1's listing works! Showing in a very subtle way, without showing the logo on their competitor's packaging, that they're bad because of this, this, this, we are good because of blah blah blah.

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Someone watching a video ad is not going to watch it again and try to understand. They're just going to watch it for a few seconds and be like, "Okay, interesting enough to click." They got the click. They got the attention. They're on the Gruns page. Now it's the page's job to sell. That has all the ingredients of a good ad.

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• Clearly shows why AG1 (the competitor) is bad: toxic, high dosage, messy, eyesore.
• Shows why Grüns (the brand) is good.
• They took a clip from their competitor from AG1 and they're like, "This is good, that's bad. This is good, that's bad." But, they did not use AG1's logo. You'll notice they never used their logo. As you know, I’m a big fan of "us versus them" comparison-based creative on Amazon because Amazon is a decision platform; it's a comparison platform.

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These guys found that it works to put a video on AG1's listing showing in a very subtle way, without showing the logo on their competitor's packaging, that they're bad because of this, this, this, we are good because of blah blah blah.

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Someone watching a video ad is not going to watch it again and try to understand. They're just going to watch it for a few seconds and be like, "Okay, interesting enough to click." They got the click. They got the attention. They're on the Gruns page. Now it's the page's job to sell. That has all the ingredients of a good ad.

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4. Fast-Paced Editing

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• Keeps attention, shows product in use, inserts multiple UGC (user-generated content) real-world clips.
• Some text frames are going too fast, I would say slow it down a little bit.

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There's no thumbnail for this particular type of display ad. It just autoplays when you scroll down, which is why it's a winning ad. When I scrolled down, I saw this woman's face get splattered. That INSTANTLY gets your attention.

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This is basically a TikTok-style ad on Amazon AKA TikTok-Style Pattern Interrupt.

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In my opinion, it’s the best example of a well-edited TikTok-style ad. It's one of the only Amazon video ads that I've seen use a pattern interrupt. We see this every day on Instagram and TikTok, right? We're scrolling, and we see these pattern interrupts. Why not on Amazon?

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Video Ad Example #2: Zena Greens Powder

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This is a solid example of a 'UGC Highlight / Visual Vibes' style ad: no script, just their best UGC / Lifestyle Content  + USPs in HUGE text + upbeat music.

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What’s Good

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• Good first 3 seconds, shows product in use (that it's a packet)
• Shows all stages of REAL LIFE USE: tearing packet, pouring, drinking, enjoying.
• Lots of BIG smiles
• Shows USPs (unique selling points) in HUGE text (USDA ORGANIC CERTIFIED, 70+ SUPERFOODS, ZERO SUGAR)
• Fast-paced edit keeps your attention (Sub 1-second cuts)
• Shows 5+ different people using it (bonus points: shows all demographics - woman, man, young, old white/black - but the primary demo first)

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What Can Be Improved:

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• Missed opportunity to add big text to thumbnail.
• Should show big text USPs in the first five seconds.
• As a YouTuber, I know thumbnails are everything. Rarely do Amazon brands think about thumbnails.
• For example, on the thumbnail, they could have added text like "Discover the difference" or "Wait till you see this." As a YouTuber, I’d be like, “Oh, I’ve been doing YouTube thumbnails for 10 years!” People are not doing thumbnails on Amazon. Very rare that they think about it.

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Video Ad Example #3: Dr. Berg Natural Prenatal Vitamin

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This is a solid example a SIMPLE 'Founder / Doctor Talking Head Style' style video with a SOLID SCRIPT.

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What’s Good:
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• Professional doctor vibe.
• Well-written script. Love the line:
  • “I've been so disgusted to see the lack of quality prenatals out there.”
• Storytelling 101: Identify a problem, then explain how your product solves it.
• Uses fast-paced editing with B-roll; while I'm not a fan of stock footage (UGC would be better), B-roll is better than nothing.
• Big captions so people can understand without audio.

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Improvements:

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• Captions could be even bigger, double the size.
• Thumbnail isn’t optimized—missed opportunity for text like:
  • “It’s finally here”
  • “I've been disgusted to see…” (tease curiosity, get clicks)

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Video Ad Example #4: Plant People Wonder Day Mushroom Gummy

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This is a solid example of a 'Founder Meet The Product / MTP" style video. Just holding up the product for 30 seconds, introducing it, and why it's unique and great!

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What’s Good:

• Simplest, easiest kind of video you can make today for free.
• Solid script: introduces the product, highlights the benefits.

Improvements:

• Missed opportunity for intriguing text on the thumbnail:
  • “Why I created this” would get way more clicks.
• Captions need to be bigger, easier to read.
• Yellow text on white background? BIG NO. Just use black text or a black background.

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Good Thumbnail Examples

While we're on thumbnails, let me show you some good examples.

I actually only found two good ones.

This one was just the first two seconds because on this type of ad, it was autoplay.

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This thumbnail was obviously made by an Amazon influencer, a creator, a YouTuber.

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Influencers can create great videos too.

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Send your product to Amazon influencers, have them make a video, and optimize the thumbnail. Most of them won’t think about the thumbnail: but they should.

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This video is in the "more videos" section and isn't by the brand, but my point is to send your product to Amazon influencers and have them create a video like this, optimizing the thumbnail. Even if they're giving a rave review, they're often not thinking about the thumbnail.

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Video Ad Example #5: Grüns Gummies

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I'll end with one more example. I know it's working for them because they're paying for a display placement. Again, it's the same strategy: they're comparing themselves to Bloom, placing a video ad on their competitors' pages.

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By now, the ad has likely gotten the vast majority of people to either click the video or not. Most people won't pay attention and watch the whole thing. The first three seconds showed the competitor, said "bad, bad, bad," and then explained "this is why we're good, good". What could be improved is overlaying some user-generated content (UGC) footage on that one.

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What Works:

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• Holding up competitor’s product with subtle digs.
• Red “X” would’ve made it better, but still effective.
• Hits all the same:
  • First three seconds matter
  • Us versus them
  • Simple, clear text

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Most people won’t watch the whole video; they’ll just skim the first few seconds. So it needs to be idiot-proof, three-second-proof, skimmable.

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Key Elements of a Winning Amazon Video Ad: Recap

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The Thumbnail

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The thumbnail is auto-determined from the "first few seconds". So make sure to your HUGE intriguing text shows for the first 3 seconds.

Mission: Get ATTENTION & get them to click PLAY on the video.

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The First 5 Seconds

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Videos auto-play on mobile, so like the thumbnail, think about the first 5 seconds is to capture attention & get people to stop scrolling.

Step 1: Get ATTENTION / SCROLL STOPPER. Get them to watch the video.

Step 2: Communicate the USP as quickly & simply as possible.

Get someone to understand what's unique and special about the product right when the video plays.

Step 3: Get them to click the ad to go to the product detail page (PDP).

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The vast majority of people won't watch the full video. They go to amazon.com, they're scrolling down, and either the video gets their attention to click or not. If they do click play, they'll watch it for maybe two, three, or four seconds, and then they'll continue scrolling or clicking. Think about Instagram ads; it's the same thing - people have very short attention spans. So, be really smart about the first one to five seconds; that's what expert e-commerce marketers do.

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PRO TIP: Videos autoplay on mobile only (without audio)

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RULES

• Idiot proof - explain to a 5 year old
• Less is more
• Show over tell
• HUGE TEXT
• Scroll-stopping thumbnail
• Scroll-stopping first 3 seconds
• Communicate the USP as fast as possible, as simply as possible.

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Destination:

• PDP makes sense for individual products.
• A Storefront Collection page makes sense if the video is about a collection of products.

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Canva Templates to Make Your Life Easy

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Would you like my Canva templates? I've been building this out for the past several months. Anytime I see a good video ad, my team copies it into Canva. It's a mix of good Amazon video ads from existing brands and video ads that my team and I have made for our clients.

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What’s inside:

• Copied from good existing Amazon ads
• Includes templates I made for clients
• Over 300 slides of copy, headlines, and examples

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Here’s how I use them:

1. Big, bold headlines
2. Pull UGC from Instagram or TikTok
3. Simplify existing videos (ditch bad AI voiceovers)
4. Make it idiot-proof for mobile and desktop

GET THE CANVA TEMPLATES HERE!

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